


Mind Over Matter

by Alexa_Piper



Series: The Notebook - Unrelated Danny Phantom Oneshots from 2013 to 2019 [10]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: A teensy bit of gore, Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Identity Reveal, backdated fic, fanon-typical violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-07
Updated: 2014-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:40:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27210604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alexa_Piper/pseuds/Alexa_Piper
Summary: Theremusthave been an easier way for his secret to come out.
Series: The Notebook - Unrelated Danny Phantom Oneshots from 2013 to 2019 [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1986457
Comments: 2
Kudos: 46





	Mind Over Matter

Phantom backed up against the wall of the lab, holding up his hands in a gesture of peace as his spine pressed against a phase-proof shield that encased the entire subterranean room. "I was just trying to empty the thermos!" he exclaimed, flinching and pulling away as contact with the ghost shield sent sparks of energy shooting into his bones.

Maddie gave a harsh laugh, bending over to retrieve the containment device from where the spectre had dropped it. "Liar," she spat, handing the contraption to Jack. "Ghosts always have ulterior motives – they never do something good for free. You've been sneaking in here and putting my _children_ in danger! No matter what your reasoning is, it's not worth such a risk."

"How is using the portal threatening anyone?" the halfa demanded, edging towards the stairs. The shield may be blocking that particular escape route, but if he could just duck into the cupboard on the far side of the staircase, maybe he could turn human and convince them that a ghost had trapped him there; his parents would be so hell-bent on pursuing and destroying this imaginary ghost that they'd forget about Phantom for the next couple of days. It'd be a great chance to set them onto Skulker, who had been particularly persistent in pursuing Danny's pelt throughout the previous months.

The whine of an ectogun as Maddie aimed it at his head caused the teen to still. It was one of the new models – a compact weapon that delivered some of the most slow-healing, incredibly painful ectoburns that Danny had ever had the misfortune to experience. Jack also produced a weapon, unsheathing the Fenton machete from where it had been fastened to his utility belt. He remained a little to the side, taking a ridiculous stance and holding the blade out in front of himself, ready in case Maddie needed backup.

"Stop pretending that you're a hero," the ghost boy's mother growled, adjusting her aim to his gut – a painful spot to get shot, but from recent experience the boy knew that it wouldn't be bad enough to cause serious damage.

Danny met her gaze unflinchingly, trying not to overthink this current development. Perhaps she simply intended to incapacitate him for later studies? A shot to the stomach would cause a lesser degree of injury to a scientific specimen than a shot to the head, whilst still managing to render him incapable of moving around the room unassisted.

He had to get to that cupboard.

Danny glanced at his mother's face, its familiar features twisted with determination. Everything from her no-nonsense stance to the tight line of her mouth said _move and I'll shoot until you can no longer so much as sit up without my help_ , but her eyes betrayed her hesitation.

The ghost boy pounced on that indecision with one soft-spoken sentence. "Have I ever hurt you?"

For a precious moment, the gun drooped as Maddie struggled to digest such an unexpected question. "You shot at us," she said after a lengthy pause.

"Once," Danny said, "and I thought you were overshadowed. If a person who's overshadowed gets shot with an ectoblast, they're not hurt, and the ghost is knocked out of them." He stared at her with pleading eyes, silently praying that the gun would be returned to its holster. If everything went well, he might even be able to talk his way out of here without bothering with the cupboard plan. "I've never actually tried to hurt you. I'm certainly powerful enough, and I could've done anything I wanted to!"

"How dare you threaten us, spook!" Jack roared, slamming the Fenton machete against the wall just next to Danny's head.

The teen jumped at the sudden violent act, realising belatedly that his choice of words probably hadn't been the best. "I swear, I'm not threatening anyone!" He inched away from the sword, only to stop as Maddie's gun was once again raised.

"All ghosts are threatening," Jack growled.

Danny shook his head, trying to ignore the glowing blade that rested next to it. "No, they're not – I've met tons of good ghosts! It's like a bear saying that all humans are threatening because it's only come across hunters, or like a dog who's only ever been abused by people! Most of the ghosts that come into this world are practically criminals."

Another lousy explanation. Danny wished that the floor wasn't protected by the shield – he would have very much liked it to open beneath him and swallow him up. No wonder he had failed debating! This was _so_ not going well.

"You talk as though you're not a ghost," Maddie observed, giving up on her aim in favour of placing it back in its holster. This sudden level of comfort sent adrenaline seeping through Danny's veins, preparing him for a dash to the closet – Maddie was feeling like she had already won. For whatever reason, he was no longer a threat.

Danny forced a shaky smile onto his face. "What do you mean? Of course I'm a ghost."

"Liar," she said.

This time, he didn't object.

"Jack, whatever Phantom is, it's not your generic ghost, and needs further study."

"Hey, I'm not an it!"

The full meaning of her words hit him, and Danny curled his fingers into fists in an attempt to hide their sudden trembling. Whatever she thought he was, Maddie was suddenly confident that she had the upper hand. Security brought space for extra thought, which led to all sorts of assumptions.

Maddie wasn't stupid. With a couple of tests, she'd figure it out.

He had to get out of here.

The huntress continued, undeterred by the ghost child's outburst. "Keep it occupied, and I'll go grab a net. Try not to hurt it too much!"

Jack grinned like a maniac, and in that moment, Danny feared for his life. The hunter swung the blade towards his own son, and Danny ducked with a yelp, darting around the large man in a struggle to keep out of the way as the machete whistled past his arm. Intangibility wasn't an option against the ghost-proof weapon, and Jack was wearing the hood of his hazmat suit, complete with goggles that could not be fooled by invisibility. Powers weren't going to save the halfa this time.

Danny dodged several swipes in quick succession, panting with exertion as he was forced back into the corner further from the stairs. Jack wasn't exactly careful, either – several thrusts had managed to nick the teen, sending viscous ectoplasm sheeting from gashes across his arms and chest.

His back met the shield once again, distracting the boy with a mild electric shock and leaving him with no space to duck a particularly enthusiastic swipe.

The world tilted and spun, and the ground met Danny's face with a thump. Something was horribly wrong, but for the moment all the kid's brain could do was struggle to catch up with whatever had just happened. Everything was numb and tingling like a severe case of pins and needles, and Danny watched in confusion as the Fenton machete clattered to the floor in front of him.

Phantom took a deep breath, and exploded in agony. His hands flew up to grasp at his neck, clasping around a stump that spurted something thick and slippery that felt horrifyingly similar his own ectoplasm…

Danny screamed as his headless body fell to writhe on the floor, somehow still moving and breathing and _feeling._ His neck hurt more than anything he had ever experienced, tears blurring his vision and streaming down his cheeks as the boy continued to scream, and _how was he still alive?!_

"Phantom?" Jack choked, dropping to his knees beside the ghost boy as Maddie flung her tangled net to the ground and raced to their corner.

"How… I… Y-you _beheaded…_ " Danny's accusation morphed into another cry, and he was dimly aware of his body convulsing pathetically in a rapidly growing pool of his own ectoplasm. "Dad," he whimpered, "I-I would _never_ hurt you…"

Both scientists tensed at his words. Before they could register what the ghost meant, Danny let loose another scream, this one filled with unadulterated terror.

His core twisted within him, and Danny fought against those blue-white rings with all of his strength. His fingers slipped in the ectoplasm that had begun to congeal into a protective layer over the wound, and the halfa gave a terrified sob as he was forced into human form. The pain in his neck increased with the transformation into a far more tangible body and Danny whimpered, fully expecting to die at any moment.

Maddie's scream sent a shiver along his spine, and he took a shuddering breath. His fingers were still clasped firmly over the stump of his neck, and Danny poured power through them, forcing his ectoplasm to create a thick, gelatinous coating to prevent him from bleeding to death.

Screwing his eyes shut, the boy tried to focus only on breathing as feeling seeped back into his limbs. He was trembling. Badly. "Guys?" he rasped, wincing at the throb in his mutilated throat. His voice still contained that ghostly echo, and Danny could only suppose that his neck was too damaged for his human form to speak without assistance.

He was wholly unprepared for hands to pick up his disembodied head. It was an experience that, on top of everything else, made the teen lose his grasp on any self-control that remained. His breathing hitched, and Danny burst into tears, wailing at the top of his lungs. "I didn't do anything wrong, so why didn't you guys just _listen?!_ "

Jack leaned towards the shaking, hyperventilating body, holding the head so that Danny's severed throat aligned. The halfa took a deep breath in an effort to calm himself down, reaching up to clasp fingers over his own skull. His father's large, gentle hands stayed there as well, helping to hold the teen's head in place. Tears slid down Danny's cheeks and he blinked rapidly, trying to clear dark spots from his vision.

Colours spun and the world continued to tilt alarmingly as Danny blinked, the orange of his father blending with the blue of his mother and the grey of the lab until nothing could be identified through the buildup of tears behind his eyelids.

"What… Danny, I don't understand," Jack said, voice cracking as tears slipped down his own cheeks.

The teen screwed his eyes shut, struggling to remain alert – his human form was a massive weight on his labouring core, the pain in his neck slowly driving the halfa towards unconsciousness. "The portal turned me half ghost," he choked, body jerking as it was overcome by shock. "'M still alive thanks to my powers."

Maddie blinked tears from her eyes and reached forwards, fingers gently prodding at Danny's ectoplasm- and blood-covered throat. He hissed at the sudden spike in pain, fingers digging into his scalp in an attempt to ground himself: the world around him spun wildly, his mind overcome with a blanket of pain and confusion. Everything faded away, and the halfa gladly gave himself up to darkness.

…

Danny blasted the alarm clock to smithereens without even cracking an eye open. It was a habit that Sam constantly whined about, but for some reason the girl always got him a new one. Tucker was working on making a clock that could withstand ectoblasts, but his last few attempts had managed to develop sentience and attempted to rule the world.

The halfa dropped his arm back to his side, his sleep-addled brain screaming that whatever had been going on before he fell asleep, it was _bad_ , and 'awake' shouldn't even be an option right now.

"Danny, Honey, you really shouldn't use ectoblasts on things that aren't attacking you."

The teen moaned, squinting against the glare from his window as Maddie's fingers brushed across his brow. Pain ripped through his neck at that small sound, and Danny's eyes shot open, fingers flying up to clasp a bandaged throat. "Mum?!"

The query morphed into a scream and Danny writhed where he lay, tears of agony streaming from beneath his tightly-shut lids. Everything came back to him in a jolt, and the halfa's heart beat hard and loud against his ribs as the terror of the previous evening resurfaced.

"Don't talk," Maddie advised, holding Danny's shoulders in place.

Danny clenched and unclenched his fingers repeatedly as the terrific pain in his neck dulled to a potent throbbing. He swallowed without thinking, immediately flinching at the spike in his throat.

"You really scared us," Maddie said, brushing dark hair back off his forehead. "When you fainted, we thought… Well, the point is that you didn't. We sewed your head back on, but I'm not sure if it'll actually reattach since nobody's ever studied a hybrid's healing capabilities before, but we've hypothesised that if it doesn't heal than your nerves will go numb in that particular area and so long as all your tubes remain aligned you should still be able to eat and breathe without any problem, and we were initially worried about blood reaching your brain but there doesn't seem to be a problem with that and-"

Danny grasped her wrist, the contact cutting Maddie's babbling short. She glanced at him before redirecting her gaze to the floor, fingers curling around fistfuls of the ghost boy's star-spangled duvet.

_Mum…_

Maddie stiffened at the telepathic voice. "Yes, Sweetie?" she said, eyes remaining focused on the carpet.

Guilt slammed into Danny, settling heavily around his tummy and making everything about this entire situation seem impossible. The sight of his mother so dejected simply reinforced the fact that none of this would have happened if he had simply been honest from the moment he turned on that stupid portal, and now everybody was paying the emotional toll for this mistake. _I'm sorry,_ he said, putting as much remorse into those two words as possible, _I should have told you guys._

She finally looked at him with eyes that shone overbright. With just one look, Danny knew that she felt even worse than he did. The realisation both heightened his own guilt at making her feel so bad, and sparked a sick satisfaction that somebody else was finally sharing in his suffering. The woman opened her mouth, but whatever she was going to say died somewhere in her throat, and Maddie nibbled on her bottom lip as her gaze returned to the floor.

Something pressed against Danny's mind, a single question that he needed the answer to. What if her remorse was simply for his sake? If it had been any other half-ghost child whose head had been cut off in the basement, would he be tucked into bed right now, or still stuck in that subterranean room, at the mercy of whatever experiments the two hunters could come up with?

_Why attack me with the Fenton Machete, anyway?_ he demanded. _What if beheading_ did _kill me? Or didn't it matter when I wasn't your son?_

Maddie jolted, lip splitting beneath her teeth. Danny watched in fascination as a bead of blood slipped down her chin, trembling at the tip for a moment before dripping onto her hazmat suit.

Dabbing at the wound with her sleeve, Maddie shifted uncomfortably. "I didn't think your father would actually hurt you," she said, hunting on the dresser for tissues instead of looking at the teen. "Whoever you were, we knew you were a halfa… Well, I guess he got a bit caught up in the excitement."

Danny took a deep breath and waited for the urge to blast her in the face to pass. _Yeah, because excitement is a perfectly reasonable excuse for beheading._

The huntress was crying now, and she alternated between dabbing the tissue at her streaming nose and bloody lip. "I'm sorry, Sweetie, I really am! Whoever you were, we didn't mean to hurt you or d-diss… experiment or anything, we just wanted some stats like heart rate and core temperature and power levels! All we wanted to do was make sure we knew exactly what you are, and how to take care of you if a ghost ever hurt you badly!" She grasped his hand, squeezing the fingers as though trying to convey her remorse through touch alone.

Danny could sense her emotions even without the contact; his own anger seeped away as his mother's silent tears turned into great, hiccupping sobs that shuddered through her entire frame.

Pain wasn't going to fix this.

_I forgive you,_ Danny said, squeezing her hand in response.

Maddie's head shot up in surprise. "Really?" she choked through the tears that streamed down her face.

Danny twisted his mouth into something that he hoped approximated a smile. _Yeah. I'm fine, anyway. I'm sure that my head'll eventually reattach, even if it falls off a few times first. Some of the ghosts will get a laugh out of it as well._

His mother's already-swollen mouth curved into a small smile and she leaned over, plopping a kiss on the ghost child's forehead. "I'll go down and make you some soup."

This time his smile came easier. _Thanks, I'd really like that._

The huntress smoothed her child's hair a second time and wiped at her eyes before retreating to the hallway. Danny watched her go before turning his gaze to the sunlight streaming through his window. Fingers of light reached across his carpet and rested on the blanket covering Danny's feet, and he closed his eyes, revelling in the warmth that spread through him.

Yes, he had done the right thing. The only way to fix something like this was through forgiveness, and working together to make everything right again.

Birdsong started in the tree beside his window, and Danny knew that from now on, things would get better.

…

Jack flinched as his son let out an involuntary sob. "Danny-"

_I can do this._

"No, it's hurting you."

_Breathing hurts,_ the halfa reminded him. Pointedly ignoring his father's gaze, Danny lifted the spoon to take another mouthful of soup. _I need to eat, or my core'll burn out and then we'll be in real trouble since my ghost powers are the only thing keeping me alive right now._

The boy swallowed, his features twisting in pain. Jack placed a hand against his son's back, rubbing it in slow, gentle circles. The contact was not unwelcome, but Danny still found himself resisting the urge to shy away.

For the past two nights, Danny's dreams had been twisted nightmares of his father tearing his body apart while his head watched from a jar full of a mixture of ectoplasm and formaldehyde.

Despite knowing that Jack would never hurt him again, the ghost boy was finding it exceedingly difficult to work through this particular batch of night terrors. Both times, he had thrashed in bed so badly that the stitches binding his neck together had split, resulting in the complete loss of his head when Danny sat up upon waking. This only served to make the inflammation of the area worse, and the halfa seemed unable to shake his skittishness when his father was around.

Jack, as usual, seemed oblivious to the subtle emotional clues of those around him. He continued to rub Danny's back, offering to heat the teen's soup upon touching the bowl and realising that it was only lukewarm.

Danny shook his head, pushing away the irrational fear that his father was about to tear him to shreds. _If you make it much warmer, it'll hurt my throat a lot more. I've got an ice core, remember? My body doesn't like hot things._

Jack bobbed his head. "Oh, of course. Sorry."

The room lapsed into silence as Danny twirled the spoon in his thick pumpkin soup. Bright and obnoxious to behold, but delightfully sweet and filling once you gave it a chance. Just like Jack.

The halfa sighed, regretting that small sound instantly at the accompanying pain, and pushed away his half-empty bowl. _You're right anyway,_ he said. _I can't eat any more of this until Mum gets back with those special painkillers._

Jack's hand continued to move, rubbing soothing circles into Danny's shoulders and spine that eased his sore muscles and loosened the knots that had accumulated there. The teen sat quietly, enjoying this rare treat – he never bothered with massages, because another day of ghost fighting and he'd knot right back up again. It had been ages since he'd been able to relax like this, and the boy had to consciously stop himself from groaning in appreciation lest his throat hurt even more than it already was.

"What if your head doesn't reattach?" Jack asked, thumbs easing a knot out from his son's shoulder blade.

Danny allowed his eyes to slip closed, leaning forwards to provide greater access to his back. _Mum said that the nerves in that area should go numb pretty soon. It shouldn't really be a problem because I'm about fifty per cent ectoplasm, and that's enough to keep me alive and functioning even if my head_ does _come off and doesn't go back on. We can probably use some sort of medical glue or grafts or special stitching or something once there's no pain, but I don't know enough about that sort of stuff to say so for sure. Maybe I'll have to have it duct taped there forever._

He meant to finish on a joke, but the tone just fell flat. Jack's hands instantly conveyed the large man's sudden distress – they pressed against Danny's spine with a lot more force than before, ceasing in their motion and bunching the fabric of the boy's shirt as they formed fists.

They stayed like that for several long moments before Danny decided to break the silence. _Dad?_

Jack threw his arms around his son's shoulders, causing Danny to yelp in a mixture of surprise and pain as his head wobbled despite its stitches and a thick wrapping of bandages. "I'm sorry," the man wept into his boy's shirt. "I honestly wish I could undo this, Danny! I never meant to hurt you, ever, ever, ever!"

Danny tried to blink away the burning in his eyes, but the sob rising in his throat sent spasms of pain through the mutilated flesh. Unable to hold it back, the halfa felt tears slip down his own face. He knew from past experience that they would be glowing a faint and transparent green, and tried to bury them in Jack's shoulder before the man could see. For some reason, the thought of Jack seeing Danny's glowing tears was something that the teen dreaded even more than the possibility of his head falling off again. At least if his father didn't see ghost powers touching such a normal, everyday aspect of life, then maybe they could work through this.

It was an irrational thought, Danny knew. He was a halfa, complete with immortality, a dependence on ectoplasm, and bodily fluids that glowed in the dark no matter what form he currently held.

The first time Danny had brushed his teeth after the accident, he had thought that his parents had made the toothpaste glow, as they did with so many other substances around the house. Further inspection of his aching body had led to disbelief, followed by insurmountable horror at the realisation that not only did he have some freaky powers, but Danny was no longer human. After all, no human being had spit that glowed like the plastic stars stuck to his ceiling.

It hadn't taken Sam and Tucker long to notice, and Danny would never forget the horror that bloomed across their faces as they realised what they were looking at. From then on, Danny had made sure that he chewed with his mouth shut, and never walked around the house visible after dark; he couldn't stand the thought of somebody finding out like that. It was one of the things he hated the most about being what he was.

So long as Jack didn't see this, then Danny could still pretend that he was somewhat normal. He wouldn't have to see the horror engulf his father's face, nor endure the frenzied questions followed by weeks of pitied glances as the man realised exactly how inhuman his son had become. Perhaps the whole beheading thing had already achieved this, but Danny really didn't want to find out. Things were perfectly fine the way they were, thank you very much.

Trying to wipe his awful, inhuman tears into the fabric of his father's suit, Danny managed instead to bump his head out of place. The resulting pain of nerves ripped away from where they had been attempting to reattach made the teen screech, and Danny found himself cradled in his father's arms as Jack removed the bandages and adjusted the teen's misaligned neck until it rested back in its proper position.

"Oh, Danny-boy," the hunter sighed, brushing away a rebellious tear that shone with its own internal light.

Danny sniffed, searching his father's face for any of that dreaded horror and revulsion as the bandages were wrapped back around his throbbing throat. To the halfa's bewilderment, all that showed in Jack's expression was sorrow.

_Am I… Is this… okay?_ Danny gestured to himself half-heartedly as the bandage was fastened back in place, waiting for the disgust that was sure to arise in his father's eyes at any moment.

Those large arms folded gently around the teen, and Danny gave a sob of relief as Jack wrapped him in a desperate hug. "Oh, _Danny._ You're my boy, ghost powers or not. You're my brave, selfless, _wonderful_ boy, and I'm so proud of you."

Danny closed his eyes, the terror of rejection that had lurked within him ever since the portal accident finally seeping away. After years of strained conversations and violent confrontations between the ghost boy and his hunter, this resurrection of their father-son bond was more than Danny had ever allowed himself to hope for.

It had been a long time since Danny had truly appreciated his survival in the face of daily violence, but now that he truly thought about it, it felt good to be alive.


End file.
